FIT Assessment

I was doing some thinking recently about how I assess members of my team, and what makes someone a fit. I came up with a framework that’s been working well for me as of late – both as I’ve reviewed existing team members, as well when I’ve interviewed for open positions on my team. Check it out, and let me know what you think.

The “FIT” Assessment

Character “FIT”

These are things that are more or less character/personal traits, and less about work output or specific contributions or performance.

Fortitude – Do they get rattled when things get tough? How do they perform under pressure? Do they have the strength of mind to execute and make the right decisions when things are difficult?

Initiative – Do they wait around waiting for you to tell them what to do? Do they come to you with ideas, and not just ideas – but fleshed out plans or the results of experiments/tests? Do they step up and take on more, and chose important, impactful things to jump into?

Talent – What are their innate talents? Are those talents particularly valuable to the team? Do they leverage their talents effectively?

Contribution FIT

Failures – What have the failed at? Have they had big, substantial failures? How have they responded to those failures? Do they “fail forward”?

Impact – What kind of impact have they had on the team? What kind of impact have they made on the organization? Are things noticeably different because of them? Would they be noticeably different without them?

Team Dynamics – How do they work with the rest of the team? Are they respected? Do they show respect? Do they drive others to do better, or do they drag people down? Are they setting an example?
I’d love to hear what you think.

About Me

Metricz was started as a way for me (Jesse Kliza) to communicate my thoughts and feelings about business process, strategy, marketing, entrepreneurship, and anything else that may be on my mind related to my professional life. I currently head up marketing at Apprenda – the leader in enterprise platform as a service (PaaS).